The Hole Perspective
by Vanilla and Cotton
Summary: ~Holes~ Two girls are sent to Camp Green Lake for commiting felonies while on a dare.
1. Truth or Dare

Nixie sat on the stifling hot school bus, staring out the window. She would have been better off if she had just closed her eyes; there was nothing she would miss. The scenery consisted of dirt, dirt, and more dirt. Oh, and there were holes. Tons of them. They covered just about every inch of the land. It had been like that for what seemed to be an eternity  
  
Nixie sighed and leaned forward a bit, and some of her hair covered her face. It came down to her waist, and was the color of cinnamon, with two orange stripes in the front, and tips that were also orange. She tried to brush it away, but the handcuffs that locked her to the seat prevented that. Her emerald eyes turned away from the world outside the bus and focused on the girl in the seat beside hers.  
  
Effie was also looking out the window, and didn't seem to notice that her friend was attempting to catch her eye. Her curly, brown hair blocked Nixie's view of her face, so she couldn't read her expression. Both girls had been arrested on the same day. The night before they had gone to a sleepover that Bridget Evans was holding. They ended up being dared to do the most outrageous thing they could think of. Neither girl could resist a dare, so they accepted, and took the first steps on the path to becoming criminals.  
  
Nixie's thoughts were interrupted when she realized that the bus had driven into a camp. There were scattered building and tents, with people in dressed in orange dragging themselves about. Nixie guessed that the orange jumpsuits were the uniform, or whatever you called it. At least they'd match her hair.  
  
After a while, it dawned on Nixie that every person she spotted was male. She turned back to Effie, and could tell that she had come to notice this as well. Before either girl could say anything, however, the bus suddenly stopped. The guard removed the handcuffs, and led both girls off the bus. Nixie stepped off first, and had to fight off the dizziness that attacked her after sitting still for so long. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand, and peered at the people nearby. Just as she had thought, there were no girls, with the exception of herself and Effie. The judge must have forgotten to mention that Camp Green Lake was designed for boys.  
  
Nixie prepared to say something to Effie, but was cut off for the second time. The guard beckoned to the girls, and led them off to a cabin to meet someone by the name of Mr. Sir.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * * *  
  
As Effie stepped inside the cabin, she felt a welcomed blast of cold air hit her face. Poing. She jumped as something hit the small metal trash can by the door. She quickly glanced inside and saw hundreds of sunflower seed shells. The man who'd spat the seed was seated behind the desk with a bag of sunflower seeds.  
  
"Well, well," he said with a country drawl, "looks like we've got some girls come to our little camp. Well let's get this straight girls, this ain't no girl scout camp." Effie glanced at Nixie, who returned her look of consternation. "You will address me as Mr. Sir, got it?"  
  
"Yes, Mr. Sir," the girls said in unison, a slight note of sarcasm etched into their voice. "Right, follow me and get your uniforms," he said as he stood up from his desk and led them to another building, this one without air conditioning. He threw them each an orange jumpsuit and a pair of boots. "Er... I'll just wait outside," he said, his look of uncomfort matching his tone. When he was outside, and they had made sure to stand away from the window in the door, they both changed into their uniforms.  
  
"You girls done in there?" called Mr. Sir from outside. "Ya," Effie called back as she finished tying her boot. Mr. Sir stepped back inside and handed them each another uniform. "You get two uniforms the whole time you're here. One is your work pair, and the other one is for relaxing in."  
  
"Work pair?" Effie asked, her eyebrow raised in a perfect arch. "Oh yes, everyday you'll be required to dig a hole. Even on Sunday. You're hole needs to be five feet deep and five feet across. You need to be able to lay your shovel down in the bottom of your hole in any direction."  
  
Mr. Sir was about to say something else, but was interrupted by the door opening. A short man with sunscreen covering his nose stepped in. "Hi. I'll be your counselor, Mr. Pendanski, that's Pen Dance Key. Right, follow me and I'll take you to your assigned tent; you'll both be in the D tent."  
  
As they stepped outside into the hot Texas sun, Effie could feel everyone staring at Nixie and her. She didn't like the feeling and wished Mr. Dancing Keys would hurry up. She hoped that the rest of the campers in D tent wouldn't stare too.  
  
*************** 


	2. Introductions

The counselor led Nixie and Effie through the camp, to a tent marked D. Nixie saw two guys inside, and both seemed shocked by the girls.  
  
"Rex, Ricky," Pendanski said, "here are the two new members of D-Tent, Nixie and Effie." Nixie smiled and gave a little wave. Pendanski ignored the silence, and went on. "I'll let you two introduce them to everyone else." With that, Pendanski turned away, probably to rub more sunscreen on his face.  
  
No one moved for a moment. Finally, the boy that Pendanski had called Rex stood up. He was African-American, and wore extremely dirty glasses. The other boy, who was tall with frizzy blonde hair, followed suit.  
  
"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking Nixie's, and then Effie's, hands, "I'm X-Ray, and this is Zigzag." He noticed Nixie's confused look and went on. "Around here, we all go by nicknames." Nixie nodded. Zigzag stared at the two for a moment.  
  
"They didn't say girls were coming," he said after a bit.  
  
"Are we the only girls here?" Nixie asked, hoping that her observations had been wrong.  
  
"Other than the Warden, yeah." X-Ray said. Nixie and Effie exchanged worried glances. Two years in a camp full of guys. This would definitely be fun.  
  
Two more guys walked into the tent, and both stopped dead when they saw the girls. One, a Hispanic boy, let out a triumphant shout.  
  
"Yes! D-Tent gets the girls!"  
  
"Dang, Magnet, settle down," the other boy, another African-American, said.  
  
"Hey guys," X-Ray said casually, "these two ladies are Nixie and Effie. Girls, this is Armpit, and here is Magnet." Both boys nodded their heads to acknowledge the girls.  
  
After that, Nixie tuned out the rest of the conversation, lost deep in thought. She was dimly aware of Effie talking to the guys, and to the mention of a rec room. Still off in her own world, Nixie followed everyone else out of the tent and back out into the sun.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
Even though Effie wasn't exactly thrilled about being around all guys for the next two years of her young life, she had to admit it wasn't too bad. Especially since she was a huge flirt, which drove most of the girls back home crazy. And she had her best friend with her too. Aside from the part about digging holes, she thought this might actually be kind of fun.  
  
She followed X-Ray into the rec room. Her cheery smile immediately sagged when she saw the state of the place. It wasn't a rec room; it was a wreck room. Everything in there was broken; one of the walls even had a small crack. Suddenly emerging from her thoughts, she noticed everyone in there had stopped what they were doing to stare at the two newest campers.  
  
Three more guys walked up to the group at the door, breaking the deafening silence. Two white boys and a small black one. "Right," said X-Ray, "this is Squid, Caveman, and Zero. Boys, this is Nixie, and this is Effie."  
  
"Hey!" Squid said, eagerly extending a hand to each of the girls. As Effie shook his hand, she couldn't help notice that his hands were extremely rough and callused. She looked at Nixie, and by her look of concealed disgust, she could tell that she had noticed as well.  
  
"Hello," said Caveman with a shy smile. He shook Nixie's hand first, then Effie's. His hands were warm, and though they were tough too, they were not nearly as tough as the other boys' had been.  
  
"Hi," Effie said, offering her hand to Zero after waiting a couple seconds for him to speak. He looked at her hand warily but never offered his.  
  
"Zero don't say much," Squid put in, and Effie slowly lowered her hand, but smiled at the small boy. Effie wasn't sure, but she thought she saw the corner of his mouth lift a little.  
  
Since they had met all the boys, X-Ray took them on the grand tour. The library, the showers, the warden's cabin, the dining room, the wreck room, and the tents were all that the camp consisted of. As their tour concluded, Effie desperately wished that she had brought her own shampoo and conditioner... along with body wash. Oh well, she was a criminal after all and as bad as this place was, she was sure that it was the Ritz compared to the alternative. 


	3. Early to bed, Early to rise

Nixie hadn't paid much attention at dinner. The only thing she had really noticed was the food was the worst she had ever tasted. And, compared to her grade in Home Ec, that was definitely saying something.  
  
Now she was sitting on her cot, which was right beside Effie's. The girls were alone; the guys of D-Tent had all headed back to the Wreck Room. Nixie stared up at the ceiling and sighed.  
  
"What do you think about the guys?" she asked Effie, still looked straight up.  
  
"They're alright I suppose. They're kind of strange. But I suppose after digging holes all day out here, you get a little weird."  
  
Nixie laughed. "This is definitely going to be a fun two years. Out in the middle of a desert, with guys that have gone kooky from the heat. But I thought that one of them." she suddenly broke off, and returned to staring at the top of the tent.  
  
Effie grinned. "You think one of them's cute don't you? Is it Caveman, I think he's a dream!"  
  
Nixie sat up. "Him? No, you can have him. But. no never mind." Her face tinged pink, and suddenly the cot became very interesting.  
  
"Who is it? Tell me! Please? Is it... Squid?" Nixie made a gaggingsound.  
  
"NO! I'm gonna have nightmares now. That's just creepy. And I'm not going to tell you."  
  
"Aww come one. You know I was just kidding. Please tell me?" Effie did her best to make a puppy dog face, but she was never much good at those. Nixie shook her head.  
  
"Nope. You can guess, though. It won't be that hard."  
  
"Is it Zigzag?"  
  
Nixie's face flushed a bit, and she didn't answer.  
  
"I knew it. So that's why you got all quiet after you met him!" Effie said triumphantly.  
  
Nixie opened her mouth to speak, but stopped suddenly. Someone could be heard approaching the tent, and Nixie put a finger up to her mouth to silence Effie. After a moment, Zigzag entered the tent.  
  
"Hey," he said, glancing over at the two girls.  
  
"Hi," Nixie said, a little breathlessly. She only looked at him for a moment, and then turned her attention once again to her cot. Zigzag immediately headed for his crate, rummaged around for a bit, and pulled out what seemed to be a small magazine or TV guide. With a slight wave to the girls, he stepped back out of the tent. Nixie stared at the door for a moment, and softly sighed. She laid down, with the intentions of going to sleep, but didn't accomplish this until after all of the boy shad returned, and most had started snoring.  
  
* * * * * * * * * *  
  
In what seemed to be the middle of the night, Effie heard Mr. Pendanski come in and say something about a "a new day in the story of your life." She opened her eyes, and after rubbing the sleep from them, noticed everyone but herself and Nixie putting on their boots. Seeing that that's what they were obviously supposed to be doing, she did. It took her forever just to get the laces tied, and then she got to groggily stumble along to breakfast. She was too tired to notice what exactly it was that she was putting into her mouth... which was probably for the better.  
  
After breakfast they were lead to the library. The building was looked too small to actually hold any books, but even so, she was mildly surprised to see shovels in it when it was opened. She turned behind her to Nixie and muttered, "These people have a sick sense of humor." Nixie nodded in agreement.  
  
Presently her turn came to take a shovel, which she did. She wondered if it was going to be hard to dig with something that was only five inches shorter than you are.  
  
When everyone had gotten a shovel they followed Mr. Sir about a mile into the desert to a spot not yet covered by holes. He told them each where to dig and that the water truck would be back at about 9 o'clock. Effie could tell this had been added for her and Nixie's own benefit because it was followed by a few shouts of, "Ya, ya we know." She sighed, whispered a quick good luck to her friend, and plunged her shovel into the dry dirt.  
  
Or rather tried to plunge it into the dirt. The shovel just sent vibrations up her arm, causing her to drop it. After shaking her hands and looking around helplessly as if expecting someone to come up and just dig her hole for her, she picked up her shovel again. Before she attempted to pierce the crusty layer of earth a second time, she heard a shout from a couple feet away.  
  
"It's easier if you wedge the blade between one of the cracks in the earth."  
  
She looked up and saw Caveman looking at her and then start digging again once he was sure she had gotten the message. She smiled and did as he had instructed. A few scoops of earth later, she discovered that the dirt wasn't as hard underneath as it was on top. 


	4. Dig Those Holes

Nixie had thought that Camp Green Lake couldn't get any worse. That all changed when she started digging.  
  
The shovel that Nixie was supposed to use was barely four inches shorter than her, and it was heavy. That was probably due to the fact that she had almost no upper body strength, but that didn't change the fact that the entire situation was awful.  
  
Within two minutes, Nixie was able to determine that she would be dead before her hole was a foot deep. She mimicked Effie by finding a crack to put the blade of the shovel in, but she still wasn't having much luck.  
  
The day progressed slowly, until finally it was time for lunch. Nixie's hole was waist deep, and her hands were covered in blood. She was the last to have her lunch handed to her, since her spot was at the end of the line, just behind Effie. She took a seat beside her hole, and drifted between her thoughts as she ate. It tool her a while to realize that a darkly toned hand was being waved in front of her face.  
  
"Is anyone in there?" X-Ray asked, and Nixie jumped. After trying to clear away her thoughts, she looked up at the leader of D-Tent, and at Zigzag, who was standing beside him.  
  
"I think she finally heard you," Zigzag said, smiling at Nixie.  
  
"Sorry," she said quickly, "I kinda got lost in my thoughts."  
  
"You do that a lot?" Zigzag asked, and Nixie nodded.  
  
"Well, I was just saying that you're doing a lot better than most of the other newbies ever did," X-Ray stated, watching Nixie carefully.  
  
Nixie, however, found this hard to believe. The effort that she had put into her hole had exhausted her, and she had yet to meet a guy that was weaker than her.  
  
"You don't talk much, do you?" Zigzag asked Nixie suddenly. "You're more of a thinker than a talker." Once again, Nixie stared up at him and nodded. The question had been rather random, and it had taken her by surprise.  
  
"Well, I hope Dreamer here doesn't turn out to be another Zero," X-Ray said, turning to leave, "Come on Zig, let's go." Both boys left and Nixie started digging again.  
  
It wasn't until she had dug another foot or so more that she realized what X-Ray had called her. Out of all the possible nicknames she could have been given, at least Dreamer suited her well.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Effie looked from her blood and dirt covered hands to her friend, who seemed to be in as much agony as herself. Effie grimaced as she picked her shovel back up and scooped up another shovel full of earth and dumped it onto her ever-growing pile. It had started to hurt too much to dig steadily, so she once again dropped her shovel. She looked out from her hole at the other diggers just in time to see Zero get out, spit in his hole, and walk towards camp. She watched his form grow smaller and smaller as he got farther away. Finally, she forced herself to pick up her shovel again. She estimated that she had about a foot to go in all directions.  
  
As her hole slowly grew larger, she watched as mostly all of the guys got out, spat in their hole, and walked back to take their showers. She laid her shovel against the wall of her hole for the millionth time. This time however, she was pleased to find that they were finally the same height. She tried laying her shovel on the bottom, but it still didn't quite fit. She groaned as she started carving away the edge of her hole.  
  
She heard someone else get out of their hole and glanced up to see Caveman spit in his hole. Before leaving though, he turned to wave at the girls. Effie waved back, but Nixie hadn't noticed the gesture. After a few more minutes of digging, she was able to lay her shovel down in her hole in every direction. And after a few poor attempts to get out of the hole she had dug, she was able to mimic the guys and spit in her hole. She barely had any saliva left in her mouth, but after gulping the last drop of her water, she was able to manage it.  
  
She was glad to see Nixie climbing out of her hole as well. She would've felt awkward walking back to camp and leaving her best friend to toil in the sun. After Nixie had spat in her hole, they both walked back to camp in silence.  
  
They got to the showers right as Caveman was getting out. He smiled at them and walked into the wreck room. Effie returned the smile and then watched as her friend laughed silently. She stuck out her tongue on mock anger and then took her turn in the shower.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * 


End file.
